Center for Jewish History

15 West 16th Street

New York, N.Y. 10011

Phone: (212) 294-6160

Electronic finding aid was encoded in EAD 2002 by Jessica Parker in August 2014. Encoding was completed by Patricia Glowinski in October 2014. Description is in English.

December 2014. An addition of four reels of microfilm from the AJHS Microfilm Collection were incorporated into Series I: Research Topics and Projects, Subseries 1: New York Kehillah by Patricia Glowinski.

This is the collection
of Arthur A. Goren, a historian and professor of American Jewish history at the Hebrew
University and Columbia University. This collection consists of his research material and
professional files from his academic pursuits and career as a professor, primarily at
Columbia University. Included in the collection are copies of articles and photocopies of
archival material used for research, drafts of speeches and manuscripts, handwritten and
typed research notes, correspondence, clippings, photographs, and teaching and course
material such as syllabi, readings, notes, and bibliographies.

Languages:

The collection is
primarily in English, with some material in Hebrew and Yiddish. A few
items are in German.

Arthur Aryeh Goren was born Arthur Gorenstein on February 15, 1926, in Chelsea,
Massachusetts. His parents, Saul and Lillian Gorenstein, were Labor Zionists and Goren was
raised in Habonim ("the builders"), a halutz (pioneer) youth movement in Washington, D.C., and New York City. He
enlisted in the army reserves when he turned eighteen in February 1944 and completed his
freshman year of Hebrew Studies at the Teacher's Institute of Yeshiva College while
preparing for the army. He entered the service in July 1944 and trained in Mississippi. He
was never posted overseas and was discharged in December 1945, at which point he went
directly to a Habonim convention.

He made aliyah (immigrated) to Israel in 1951 "to fulfill his
youthful Zionist dreams. Those ideals also included fighting 'with like-minded people
everywhere for the emergence of a better society.'"1 He completed a Bachelor of Arts in
Jewish History at the Hebrew University in 1957, and continued with some graduate studies in
History at the same institution from 1958 to 1959. As a veteran, he attended the Hebrew
University on the GI Bill. He then returned to the United States, completing both a Master's
of Arts in 1964 and a PhD in United States History in 1966 at Columbia University. Just
prior to graduation, he Hebraicized his last name to "Goren." (His research papers from his
time as a student at the Hebrew University all bear the last name "Gorenstein.")

Goren returned to Israel and taught at the Hebrew University from 1966 to 1988. He then
went back to Columbia University and was the Russell and Bettina Knapp Professor of American
Jewish History from the chair's establishment in 1988 through his retirement in 2005.
Specializing in "social and cultural Jewish history of the United States,"2 he has
published numerous books and articles, including seminal works in the field. Some of his
publications include The Politics and Public Culture of American
Jews (1999), Studies in American Civilization (1987),
The American Jews: Dimensions of Ethnicity (1982), Dissenter in Zion: From the Writings of Judah L. Magnes (1982), and
New York Jews and the Quest for Community: The Kehillah Experiment
1908-1922 (1970), which "is considered a landmark contribution to the field of
American Jewish history."3

Goren held visiting positions at Brandeis University, the University of Pennsylvania, and
the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a Charles Warner Fellowship at Harvard University. He
has held numerous positions on boards and committees, including Chairman of the Department
of American Studies at the Hebrew University from 1970 to 1973 and again in the 1980s. He
was a member of the American Jewish Historical Society's Academic Council, and served on the
editorial boards of American Jewish History, the Journal of American Ethnic History, and the YIVO Annual. In 1998, he received a Jewish Cultural Achievement Award for
Historical Studies from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.

Goren is married to Ayalah Goren née Kadman, a teacher, choreographer, and researcher of
Israeli folk dance and culture. They have two sons, Avner and Amos.

This collection consists of the research and professional files of Arthur A. Goren, a
historian and professor of American Jewish history. The collection includes copies of
articles and photocopies of archival material used for research, drafts of speeches and
manuscripts, handwritten and typed research notes, correspondence, clippings, photographs,
and teaching and course material such as syllabi, readings, notes, and bibliographies. The
topics represented in this collection mostly reflect books and articles that he wrote, or
background research for the development of courses and course readings. The topics
represented in this collection include: the New York Kehillah,
Judah L. Magnes, ethnicity, nationalism, Jewish identity, immigration, Eastern European
Jewry, American Jewish history, crime and the Jewish underworld, American Jewish leadership,
Habonim, Zionism, pluralism, pacifism, Jewish Orthodoxy, Ben
Halpern, Abba Hillel Silver, public culture, and the Hebrew University.

As this is primarily a research collection, personal materials are limited to some
correspondence and a few photographs. These can be found in Series V: Professional Files, in
the folder titled "Biographical material." The professional materials are mostly drawn from
Goren's time at Columbia University. His academic life at the Hebrew University is not
significantly represented, other than by a few papers he wrote while a student there. These
are located in Series III: Writings.

This collection is arranged topically in five series. The folders within each series and
subseries are arranged alphabetically by subject.

American Jewish History has been designated as a separate series rather than as a subseries
of Research Topics and Projects or Courses and Teaching because it is an extensive group of
records that may have been compiled for either or both research and teaching.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Director of Collections and Engagement of the American Jewish Historical Society,
except items that are restricted due to their fragility.

Use Restrictions

Information concerning the literary rights may be obtained from the Director of Library
and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society. Users must apply in writing for
permission to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this
collection. For more information contact: American Jewish Historical Society, Center
for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY, 10011E-mail:
reference@ajhs.org

The collection includes photocopies of archival materials from other repositories.
Permission for usage of these materials will have to be granted by the originating
repository. The student papers in Series IV may be restricted. Please contact the
archivist for more information.

Transcripts from oral history interviews conducted by Arthur A. Goren with Abraham
Shoenfeld pertaining to crime and the New York Kehillah can be found in the Abraham Shoenfeld Papers
(P-884) at the American Jewish Historical Society. Additional research
materials pertaining to these topics and oral history transcripts can be found in Arthur
A. Goren's collection.

Goren's collection includes copies of materials written by Ben Halpern, and Goren wrote a
chapter titled "Ben Halpern: 'At Home in Exile'" for the book The
"Other" New York Jewish Intellectuals. The Benjamin Halpern Papers are held by
the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department at the
Brandeis University Libraries (ID no.: MWalB0150A).

Arthur A. Goren papers: a collection of materials, gathered by Goren between approximately 1960 and 2005, as he conducted research in, wrote about, and taught American Jewish history at universities in the
United States and Israel, is held by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the Columbia University.

Duplicate material and personal material unrelated to Goren's professional life were
returned to the donor, Arthur A. Goren. The photograph in Series I, Subseries 10 and the
photographs in Series V are stored with the AJHS General Photographs
Collection.

This collection was arranged by Jessica Parker in July–August 2014. At this time, partial
processing and collection-level description were completed on the collection, and full
processing and description occurred for Series I, Subseries 2: Judah L. Magnes. In
September-October 2014, the remainder of the collection was processed and described and
subsequent collection-level arrangement and description revision was completed by Patricia
Glowinski.

Materials were refoldered and rehoused in acid-free folders and boxes. Rusty paper clips
were removed and replaced; documents were unfolded as space allowed. Original folder
titles that were illegible to the archivist were photocopied and placed in the
corresponding folder. Since the original contents of each folder, and their titles, were
retained as donated by Goren, it is likely that the material in a given folder could be
more expansive than the title suggests and that the material could pertain to multiple
series in this collection. If a title hadn't been provided by Goren, a title that
reflected the bulk of the material in a given folder was created. In cases where titles or
words were illegible, the archivist provided best guesses, represented in brackets. For
clarity, first names were added to folder titles; for example, "Felix Warburg" was used
instead of simply "Warburg." Abbreviations were written out, except in instances when it
wasn't clear to what they referred. Punctuation was sometimes added or changed to clarify
the relationship among the components in a folder title. The dates included in folder
titles pertain to some, but not all, of the dates of the original archival materials in
the folders. In Series I and II, the dates of the folders themselves reflect estimations
of when the research was conducted and copies of the materials were made, based on when
related books and articles were published.

The American Jewish Historical Society Library holds many of Arthur A. Goren's books.
AJHS also holds GI Jews: How World War II Changed a
Generation (2004) by Deborah Dash Moore, which profiles Goren and his time and
relationship to his World War II army service. These may be found by searching the catalog
of the Center for Jewish History. http://search.cjh.org

Arrangement:

This series is arranged in twelve subseries. Subseries 1 through 10 are arranged in
chronological order, mirroring Goren's publication history on the given topics. In some
cases, related topics are grouped together, even if Goren may not have written on all of
them, or all of them collectively, such as Subseries 3: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and
Jewish Identity. Subseries 11 and 12 contain general research files that could not be
easily sorted into specific research topics, as much of Goren's research overlapped.
Arrangement within each subseries is alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This series pertains to Arthur A. Goren's research topics and projects. This includes
research material that was accumulated and not necessarily used for research or
publishing, as well as material that could have been used for multiple projects. While
drafts of manuscripts and speeches that pertain to a particular research project are
included in this series, Goren's writings can also be found in Series III: Writings.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains material accumulated by Goren for research pertaining to the
Jewish Kehillah of New York City and organized Jewish community. Goren originally
began research on the subject while a student at Hebrew University. The microfilm in
this subseries, comprising 4 reels, were microfilmed by Goren in 1966. As noted on
Reel 1, permission was granted to Goren to microfilm documents from the Judah L.
Magnes Archives by the Jewish Historical General Archives (now the Central Archives
for the History of the Jewish People). At the time, Goren was writing his
dissertation, "The New York Kehillah, 1908-1922." Reel 1 contains a letter written by
Goren explaining why the documents were microfilmed. It also contains an arrangement
note and a detailed inventory list of what is on each reel (called "spools" by Goren).
The dates of the microfilmed material generally are within Goren's dissertation focus
of 1908-1922. Subjects of material microfilmed include religious affairs, anti-crime
activity, immigrant banks, arbitration, education, vice, propaganda, and the Committee
on Social Morals. Kehillah Executive Committee minutes are also on the microfilm.
Goren's first book, New York Jews and the Quest for Community:
The Kehillah Experiment, 1908-1922, was published in 1970.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject. Folders were arranged as pertaining to Judah L. Magnes or
the Hebrew University based on their original titling. If no folder title was
available, they were arranged depending on the topic of the bulk of the material
contained therein.

Scope and Content:

This subseries consists of the research Goren conducted on Judah L. Magnes for his
book, Dissenter in Zion: From the Writings of Judah L.
Magnes (published in 1982), notes on his research, and typescripts for talks
and publications. Magnes, a prominent Reform rabbi in the United States and British
Mandate of Palestine, was involved in most of the endeavors that Goren researched, and
so materials pertaining to Magnes may be found throughout the collection. For
instance, Magnes helped found the American Jewish Committee and the New York Kehillah.
He was involved with the Social Morals Bureau, which investigated white slave
trafficking and the Jewish underworld. He was the first chairman of the People's
Council of America for Democracy and Peace and the first Chancellor of the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem. Louis Marshall, a significant funder of Jewish education
through the Kehillah, was related to Magnes through marriage.

Because both the arrangement of items within Goren's folders and the folder titles
were retained, there are materials pertaining to other topics within this subseries.
As Magnes was fundamental in the founding of the Hebrew University, there are also
substantial Hebrew University materials in this subseries. Materials pertaining to
Chaim Weizmann and Albert Einstein can be found in both the Judah L. Magnes and the
Hebrew University subseries.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

The subjects of ethnicity, nationalism, and identity are themes that Goren
incorporated into both his research and teaching. Some of Goren's related publications
include: "A Portrait of Ethnic Politics: The Socialists and the 1908 and 1910
Elections on the East Side" (article, 1961); "The American Jewish Labor Movement and
Ethnic Identity" (article, 1969); and The American Jews:
Dimensions in Ethnicity (1982). Goren also taught "Ethnicity in 20th Century
America" and "The Public Culture of American Ethnic Groups" at Columbia University.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains articles accumulated by Goren on the subjects of immigration
and assimilation, with a focus on Eastern European Jewish immigration and immigrants
in the United States. Related publications by Goren include: "Immigration and the
Forming of the American Nation" (article, 1976; in Hebrew) and "The Coming of Age of
American Jewry: 1881-1920" from The Mass Migration of Eastern
European Jewry to the United States (Goren, editor, 1976; in Hebrew). At
Columbia University, Goren's courses included "The American Jewish Experience:
1880-1950; Immigration and Acculturation" and "The Immigrant and the City
(1840-1940)."

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

4

9

American Jewish History — Eastern European Jewish immigrants — articles —
mainly New York — East Side

circa 1980s

4

10

American Jewish History — Eastern European Jews — 1880-1929

circa 1970s-1980s

4

11

Eastern European Jewry background — Eastern European migration

circa 1970s-1980s

4

12

Eastern European Jews — education

circa 1970s-1980s

4

13

European background — articles — Hevra Kadisha

circa 1970s-1980s

4

14

Immigration articles

circa 1970s-1980s

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

5

1

Immigration Commission — immigration theory

circa 1970s-1980s

5

2

Immigration — Italians

circa 1970s-1980s

5

3

Immigration — post World War Two

circa 1970s-1980s

5

4

[Immigration Seminar] — article, groups

circa 1970s-1980s

5

5

Nahirny — American Immigrant Groups: Ethnic Identification and the Problem
of Generations

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

In 1988, Goren published Saints and Sinners: The Underside of
American Jewish History. Included in this subseries are articles, oral
histories, notes, an original publication on white slavery (generally, trafficking of
women for prostitution) in Yiddish, and a fifty-seven page, Kehillah crime report from 1913 chronicling Jewish crime and the underworld,
primarily in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York City.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

Included in this subseries are articles, notes, essays, manuscripts, and copies of
archival documents on the related subjects of Habonim
(international youth movement affiliated with the Israel Labor party and stressing
Hebrew language, culture, and settlement in Israel, and with strong ties to the Ichud
kibbutz movement. http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Habonim.htm) Halutziut (pioneers; pioneer movement to Palestine), and Zionism.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This subseries includes articles, notes, copies of archival documents, and a
manuscript by Goren titled, "The Conservative Politics of the Orthodox Press" (see Box
7, Folder 20). The material in this subseries primarily focuses on the subjects of
American Orthodoxy and Orthodox politics. In 1990, Goren published, "The 'New
Pluralism' and the Politics of Community Relations."

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

Ben Halpern (1912-1990) was an American writer, editor, historian, sociologist, and
academic. He taught at Brandeis University from 1960 to his retirement in 1980. In
1971, Halpern became the Richard Koret Professor of Judaica for the Near Eastern and
Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis. Halpern served as an editor and writer for the
publications Jewish Frontier and Midstream, among other professional activities. This
subseries includes copies of Halpern's writings from several publications, a
bibliography of Halpern's writings, a eulogy written for Halpern by Goren, various
articles, and a final draft of Goren's article, "Ben Halpern: 'At Home in Exile.'"
(1994)

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

8

7

Article and bibliography

circa 1990s

8

8

At Home in Exile [articles from Furrows]
(1942-1943)

circa 1990s

8

9

Ben Halpern: "At Home in Exile" by Arthur A. Goren,
final draft (1994)

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This subseries primarily contains copies of archival documents complied by Goren for
research on Abba Hillel Silver (1893-1963). Silver was an American rabbi and one of
the leaders of the Zionist movement in the United States. Also included in the
subseries is a "working copy" (manuscript) of Goren's article about Silver, "Between
Ideal and Reality: Abba Hillel Silver's Zionist Vision." The article was published in
1996 in the anthology, Abba Hillel Silver and American
Zionism.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

The material in the subseries focuses on the founding of the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem (founded in 1918; Mount Scopus campus opened in 1925) and the issues among
the University's founders, including Judah L. Magnes, Chaim Weizmann, and Albert
Einstein. Included in the subseries are articles, photocopies of archival documents,
an article about city planner and architect Patrick Geddes and his design of the Mount
Scopus campus, and manuscript copies of Goren's article, "Sanctifying Scopus: Locating
the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus." The article was published in 2000.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

10

1

Current [Scopus related — Weizmann letters]

circa 1990s-2000

10

2

Einstein, Albert

circa 1990s-2000

10

3

Geddes, Patrick

circa 1990s-2000

10

4

Hebrew University — 1920-1923

circa 1990s-2000

10

5

Hebrew University — 1929

circa 1990s-2000

10

6

Hebrew University — articles

circa 1990s-2000

10

7

Hebrew University — articles, manuscripts, [probe]

circa 1990s-2000

10

8

Hebrew University opening — April 1925

circa 1990s-2000

10

9

Hebrew University — photograph showing 25 people standing in front of a
building on the Mount Scopus campus, most likely for the dedication of the new
Hebrew University, [circa 1925]

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains material that may have been compiled for either or both
research and teaching. The majority of the material consists of articles or book
chapters written by the people included in this subseries.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This series contains material compiled by Goren for either or both research and
teaching. The series is chiefly comprised of copies articles by other authors and
photocopies of archival documents that Goren consulted for research. The folder titles
are Goren's, with the exception of the text in brackets.

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This series includes student papers, manuscripts, and speeches written by Arthur A.
Goren, dating from his student years at Hebrew University in the 1950s, through his
career as a historian and professor of American Jewish history. Some of the manuscripts
are drafts. Also included are notes, correspondence, and other related material. Note
that Goren's research papers from his time as a student at the Hebrew University all
bear his original last name "Gorenstein."

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

19

10

The Boss and the Party Machine: 1870-1914

1957

19

11

Identifying Ourselves: The Historical Consciousness of American Jews

1984, 1987

19

12

Josephus: The Jewish War

1960

19

13

Manuscripts, [notes and documents]

undated, 1966, 1993

19

14

March 4th manuscripts and ideas

circa 1990s

19

15

On Living in Two Cultures [and related material]

undated, 2000

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

20

1

Paper for [Zeligmen?] — [Book of Proverbs, Chapters 10-29] — Hebrew

1957

20

2

The Russian Jewish Immigration to the United States, 1881-1895, as Viewed
Through the Contemporary Hebrew Periodical Press Which Appeared in the United States

1954

20

3

Sacred and Secular: The Place of Public Funerals in the Immigrant Life of
American Jews

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically, primarily by the title of the course.

Scope and Content:

This series consists of syllabi, bibliographies, course readings, course packets,
notes, and student papers documenting Goren's career as a professor of American Jewish
history, primarily at Columbia University.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

20

6

The American Jewish Experience: 1880-1950; Immigration and Acculturation

Arrangement:

Alphabetical by subject.

Scope and Content:

This series includes professional correspondence, conference material, photographs,
biographical material, notes, printed matter, material related to Goren's publication on
the Central Synagogue (in Manhattan), reviews of Goren's books, and material relating to
Columbia University's Bancroft Prize. The Bancroft Prize material primarily concerns the
awarding of the prize to historian Michael Bellesiles in 2001, which was later rescinded
in 2002.